"PM Modi has monopoly in political finance like Adani": Rahul after unveiling of Cong manifesto

NEW DELHI: Presiding over the release of the party's 'Nyay Patra' or manifesto for the seven-phased Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said just like billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani, who holds a "monopoly in ports and infrastructure", Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a "monopoly in political finance" by using central investigating agencies.

Speaking at a press conference after the unveiling of the Congress's manifesto on Friday, Rahul said, "We need to understand where this strategy of the RSS, BJP and PM Modi comes from. In the same way Adani has a monopoly in ports, infrastructure and defence, PM Modi, too, has a monopoly in political finance by using central agencies such as ED, CBI and Income Tax."

Expanding on his claim, Rahul said the Centre's electoral bonds scheme reveals how the party sourced its funds.

"If you have a close look at the (electoral) bond scheme, you can see very clearly that the BJP ensured funding through extortion, threats and pressure," Rahul claimed.

He added that Opposition leaders across parties, including the Congress, are joining the BJP as they want to maintain their "political finance monopoly."

"Mallikarjun Kharge said those who are corrupt are joining the BJP. The reason is that PM Modi wants to keep control of the political finance monopoly," he said.

"What's happening today is that PM Modi is building his financial monopoly by capturing institutions like the ED and CBI. After the elections, all the information like whom he gave the contract to, how much they paid to bag the contract (will come out)...the entire blueprint is in the electoral bonds. PM Modi will be bound to share the entire proofsheet to the Opposition, in the form of electoral bond data," he said.

On the party's manifesto, Rahul said, "This manifesto wasn't made by the Congress. It was made by the people of this country, we merely drafted it. We prepared our manifesto our speaking to thousands of people...bet it on employment or contract labour." To a question asked by a reporter on how confident was his party of a positive outcome in other states besides the South, he said, "I am not a soothsayer. Unlike many political commentators, I cannot predict the future but what I am confident of is that this is a much closer election than what the media is projecting. This is a close fight. We are going to put up a strong challenge and win these elections."

Reminding the BJP's 'India Shining' campaign after which the Vajpayee government lost power, Rahul said, "Please do remember that there was a similar sentiment being projected by the media when Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. There was the 'India Shining' campaign. A similar claim is being made through sections of the media now. Do remember what happened to the 'India Shining' campaign and who won that campaign."

On the probable Prime Ministerial face for the Opposition, Rahul said, "A decision has been made by the INDIA alliance that we are fighting this ideological election unitedly. After the elections, the coalition will sit together and decide their leader and Prime Minister.